C. Ray Johnson, in one of the final chapters of his book CEO Logic: How to Think and Act Like a Chief Executive, summarises: "Prioritising is the answer to time management problems - not computers, efficiency experts, or matrix scheduling. You do not need to do work faster or to eliminate gaps in productivity to make better use of your time. You need to spend more time on the right things..."
We all suffer from having too many things to do, and we never seem to have the time and energy to do all that we set out to do. We also don't have time and resources to do them equally well either. In this chaotic world, many things will be left undone, no matter how hard we try. Prioritising is the only way to solve this frustrating problem…or at least help us feel better about it.
Prioritising works, and works well, due to the Pareto principle: the 80/20 Rule. Regarding expended time, the 80/20 Rule states that 80 per cent of our typical activities contribute less than 20 per cent to the value of our work.
If you focus on the most important 20 per cent of your tasks you will likely still get most of the value. It follows then, that if you focus your efforts on the top value activities, you will achieve more (value) than you did before, or perhaps you will have more time to spend with family, friends, hobbies, etc..
Prioritising is all about making choices: What to do…What not to do. To effectively prioritise your day, you need to recognize what is important, as well as to see the difference between urgent and important. Many tasks that appear urgent are actually not that important and unless this understanding is in place they will get in the way of doing what is important but not urgent. If planned correctly, most of our priority tasks in a given day fall into the category of not urgent, but important. These important, or high priority non-urgent tasks are the ones that help us achieve our long-term goals or can have meaningful and/or significant long-term consequences.
If you struggle constantly with a lack of time and you cannot decide how or what to delegate, try this. Carry a diary round with you, or create a template on your computer, and make a note of absolutely everything you do in 15 minute intervals over the course of a typical week. Then at the end of the week sit down and make a list of the activities you were involved in over the course of the week. Next draw a table like the one below
Like
Don’t like
Low Skill
High Skill
Now, put each activity into one of the boxes, depending on whether it is something you like doing or don’t like doing and whether it is difficult to do or easy to do.
Anything you don’t like doing and is easy to do, then put it at the top of the list for delegating.
Of course before you can delegate you must have a system in place to be followed and a means of measuring that it is being done in the correct standard, but that is a subject for another week.
If time is something there is never enough of, and/or you can never seem to trust your team to relieve you of enough of the burden, then perhaps we should talk. Call me on 01 8241816 or visit my website at www.actioncoach.com/fergalkeane
